Create and Use Routing Planes

Routing planes are rectangular planes which are used to guide pipes along their length. Routing planes are useful, for example, in routing groups of pipes along a wall or ceiling, or simply to group pipes close together. For example two routing planes can be used, one above the other, to group all north/south pipes together and all east/west pipes together.

Note:
For Pipe Router, a Pipe Rack is defined as a group of routing planes.

How Pipe Router Uses a Plane

Pipe Router ensures that pipes take the best route available from the previous constraint to the routing plane. If the most direct route to the plane is blocked, Pipe Router selects an alternative route which ensures that the pipe enters the plane at the earliest opportunity, which is usually just after the obstruction. The pipe will exit from the plane at the point which enables it to take the most direct route to the next constraint. If the most direct route to the next constraint is blocked, the pipe will exit from the plane just before the obstruction. Pipes are routed along the length of a routing plane.

You can set whether the centre, top or bottom of pipes will be aligned on the routing plane. If a pipe is insulated, the plane will automatically take the insulation into account by positioning the pipe at a height which allows for the insulation.

Note:
Allowances for shoe heights using a SHOE rule. for further information, refer to Automatic Pipe Routing Administration.

Using More Than One Plane to Route a Branch

More than one routing plane can be used to route a branch, however there must be routing points or locked components between the planes. If this is not the case, Pipe Router may encounter difficulties in deciding when to leave one plane and enter another.

You must not use two adjacent planes with the same travel direction and no perpendicular offset between them. For turns in the same plane, planes should touch, within 100cm, corner to corner, but not overlap. You can use groups of routing planes to create Pipe Racks. for further information, refer to Create and Use Pipe Racks.

Create a Routing Plane

To create a routing plane make sure the zone ROUTERSITE/STRU is selected, from the Pipe Router window, select Create > Routing Plane.

The Create Routing Plane window is displayed and a routing plane element is created and displayed in the design hierarchy:

In the name box, input the name of the new routing plane which is the name that is displayed in the Members List and the Branch Detail window.

In the Description box, input the description of the routing plane, this text is not used elsewhere in PDMS. (It may be useful for keeping a record of the plane’s purpose for future reference).

The Position of the pipe wrt to the plane can be changed by selecting from a choice of options in the Pipe positioning drop-down list.

Top of pipe - Positions the top of the pipe on horizontal routing planes, or in front of vertical routing planes adjusting for any insulation. Top is the Z direction of the Plane which is shown with an arrow.

• Centre of pipe - Positions the centre of the pipe along the routing plane.

• Bottom of pipe - Positions the side of the pipe below horizontal routing planes, or behind vertical routing planes, adjusting for any insulation.

The Pipe to Pipe Gap and Packing Method options control how Pipes are packed on the plane., for further information refer to Pipe Packing. Click OK.

The Routing Plane Dimensions window is displayed:

You can now type in the dimensions for the routing plane:

The position from which the routing plane takes its dimensions can be changed by selecting from a choice of options in the Anchor drop-down list:

• Centre

• Corner

You can simply enter the coordinates on the Routing Plane Dimension window or use the other options available on the menu, which are similar to the normal PDMS positioning options.

In the Length box, input the length of the plane, from the Dir drop-down list, select the direction that the pipes are to be routed along wrt to the plane.

In the Width box, input the width of the plane, then set the direction wrt to the width of the plane.

Click Apply to create the routing plane or Dismiss to discard any inputs and close the Routing Plane Dimension window.

The Routing Planes Dimensions form should now look as shown.

A vertical routing plane can be created by setting one of the Dir fields to be U or D (up or down). The up/front direction of the plane will be indicated by a construction arrow in the graphical view which is drawn perpendicular to the plane. To reverse the direction, reverse either of the length or width directions, for instance from E to W.

Use a Routing Plane to Route Branches

To route a branch via a routing plane, the routing plane must be added to the constraint list for the branch. From the Pipe Router window, select the branch to add the plane to, click Branch Detail. The Branch Detail window is displayed which contains details of the selected branch. Select Add > Routing Plane > Selection to display the Add Routing Plane window:

You can select from the available planes displayed in the Plane list.

Where the plane is inserted can be defined by selecting from a choice of options in the Insert After drop-down list.

Click to check the Last on Plane checkbox to specify that positionable components will be placed on the plane.

Clicking OK, the routing plane is added to the Components/Constraint list for the branch or Cancel to discard any changes and close the Add Routing Plane window.

Route the branches, using the Pipe Router, the branches are routed via the routing plane.

Add Routing Planes Automatically

Pipe Router provides facilities to automatically add pre-defined routing planes to a branch, which could be useful if for instance you must run all north/south running pipes at one elevation, and all east/west pipes at another.

Pipe Router can add either one vertical plane, or two horizontal planes, providing the horizontal planes are oriented perpendicular to one another.

The routing planes will be added at the head of the branch. The planes must be able to be reached directly from the head for them to be included. If there are more planes than are required, the closest ones to the head will be chosen.

If there are constraints in the branch, such as routing points, or locked components, an additional two horizontal or one vertical plane will be searched for at the tail of the branch. These must be reachable directly from the tail and will be added to the Components/Constraints list as the last constraints before the tail.

Planes will be searched for in a box defined by the head and tail of the branch. The box will be extended by the values specified in the Pipe Router Defaults window. Only pipes that travel along routing planes a distance greater than the Minimum Travel Distance will be considered.

To add routing planes automatically:

From the Pipe Router window, select the branch to add routing planes to, click Branch Detail. Select Add > Routing Plane > Automatically. The branches appear in the Command Input & Output window but not on the Status bar. The Components/Constraints list on the Branch Detail window will be updated with the selected routing planes.

Components on Planes

The Last on Plane check box on the Add Routing Plane window (and the Last on Rack checkbox on the Add Pipe Rack window) allows you to specify that positionable and locked components will be placed on the plane. When it is switched on, the neighbouring list will show all the positionable and locked components in the Branch: select the one required: all the positionable and locked components after the Plane, up to and including the component given as Last on Plane, will be positioned on the plane.

You can have several positionable components on a plane or rack and have more than one locked component on a rack providing they are aligned.

• Reducers are not permitted as positionable or locked components on a plane.

Locked Straight-through Components

Locked components on planes can be placed on the plane, but note the following conditions:

• Locked components will define the slot on the plane for the Branch. If there is more than one locked component for a branch on a plane or rack, all of these components must lie in the same slot.

• There must be sufficiently wide gaps on the plane to fit in any component required, for example, by using a large enough basic gap, or using WF / FF spacing with large enough flange widths.

• The arrive and leave directions must be along the travel direction.

Locked Bends and Elbows

Since locked bends or elbows define the start or end of the slot:

• Locked bends and elbows will define the start or end of the slot on the travel plane as well as the slot itself. Hence there can be at most one entry bend/elbow and one exit bend/elbow.

• For a locked bend or elbow used to enter the travel plane from the entry plane, the arrive-direction must be from the entry-plane and the leave-direction along the travel plane

• For a locked bend or elbow used to leave the travel plane, the arrive direction must be along the travel plane and the leave-direction must be to the exit plane.

If there are no rules about choosing entry/exit planes, Pipe Router will use the entry and exit bend/elbow to help it to choose suitable entry/exit planes.